This week marks 25 years since the first one rolled off the Toyota assembly line in Gibson County.

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As the 20th century drew to a close, the economic prospects for Evansville and the Tri-State were far from encouraging.

Whirlpool Corp. once hired about 10,000 men and women in Evansville to make refrigerators and other products. But it closed its Morgan Avenue compressor plant in 1984, laying off about 1,500 people. Cuts followed at its sprawling plant in the U. S. In 1989, Whirlpool hired only about 2,600 people. That number grew to about 5,000 by mid-1994, but two years later the company cut it in half.

“I think the network had a hard time determining where those jobs would be absorbed, where the Whirlpool workers would go,” Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke recently recalled. “There is a lot of regional fear about the long term of our region’s economy due to Whirlpool’s declining prestige in our network (the plant would stop production completely in 2010).

Another major employer, Zenith Electronics, employed 1,200 people making television cabinets at plants on Lynch Road and Fulton Avenue. But Zenith closed those plants in 1987 and moved production to Mexico. Other manufacturers that had once employed hundreds, like Arkla Inc. and Bucyrus-Erie Co., closed as well.

It’s a troubling time.

But a few days after Thanksgiving in 1995 came a bombshell: Toyota Motor Manufacturing would construct a $700 million pickup truck assembly plant at Princeton, Indiana.

“I remember the day they broke ground and Gov. (Evan) Bayh came down, and I just remember what a big production it was,” Winnecke, who was news director for WEHT-ABC25 at the time, said. “I thought, oh gosh, this is going to change our region forever.”

Indeed, on the heels of Toyota’s announcement Dana Corp. located a truck frame plant in Owensboro (now owned by Metalsa Structural Products) to build truck frames while AK Steel built its Rockport Works in Spencer County, Indiana, to provide metal for truck bodies.

A milestone fell on Dec. 10, 1998 — 25 years ago today — when Toyota rolled its first vehicle, a Tundra full-size pickup truck, off the Princeton assembly line. Some 100,000 more were expected to follow annually. For the first time since Chrysler closed its Plymouth auto body and assembly plants in 1959, the Evansville area was producing vehicles.

It’s exciting and it’s the only beginning. In the quarter-century since, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (TMMI), according to the company’s website, has assembled more than 6 million vehicles, adding 351,072 last year alone. Toyota has invested $6. 6 billion in the plant, which covers 4. 5 million square feet (about 80 indoor football fields) on a 1,160-acre site.

It now employs more than 8,000 people and has an annual payroll of $560 million. The starting salary for a production team member is $22. 15 consistent with hourly plus benefits, and will come in at $34. 80 through early 2024, according to TMMI’s website. Starting pay for qualified team members will be $32 per hour starting January 1 and will go up to $43. 20.

In 2020, the state’s Indiana Economic Development Corp. stated that TMMI’s presence in Indiana supported approximately 80 Indiana suppliers and led to the creation of 24,058 Hoosier jobs over 20 years.

“It’s really hard” to fully master Toyota’s impact in this part of the country, said Greg Wathen, a veteran economic development official who spent 14 years with the Southwest Indiana Economic Development Coalition before helping create and lead the Evansville Regional Economic Association. before retiring in 2022.

In Gibson County alone, he said, the automobile accounts for $1. 5 billion of the county’s annual gross domestic product of $1. 9 billion.

Toyota, he said, is the rare employer attracting team members from several remote counties in Gibson County.

“People will come from miles to see paintings at Toyota,” Wathen said.

And because Toyota is so excited about that talent, he said it “has all the brands to be more competitive. . . to retain talent. “

At the same time, TMMI’s product line has evolved over the years. Production of the Tundra moved from Princeton to San Antonio, Texas, in 2008. Instead, Toyota began generating midsize Highlander and Highlander Hybrid SUVs, as well as Sienna and Sienna Hybrids. Minivans.

In 2021, Toyota announced an $803 million investment in Princeton for two new models: the first three-row Grand Highlander SUV, which began production in August, and the first three-row luxury Lexus TX, the first Lexus SUV assembled. In América. Se another 1,400 jobs are expected to be created at the plant.

“I think you have to look at it this way: It’s an understatement to say Toyota is a large corporation, but they could have made the Grand Highlander and Lexus anywhere in their corporation,” Winnecke said. “The fact that they’re doing it here speaks to the leadership and workmanship and dedication to excellence they see here.”

“We didn’t know the magnitude of Toyota’s importance until we saw it in action,” said the mayor, who is finishing his third and final term. “Not only the thousands of workers and suppliers, but also what they do philanthropically. there is a major assignment in the area, you can be sure that Toyota has contributed in some way. Without their philanthropy, where would so many nonprofit assignments and forums be, because they have so many Toyota representatives?

Toyota has donated millions of dollars to nonprofits in the region over the past quarter-century, adding primary donations that coincide with product announcements. In August, for example, the Toyota USA Foundation announced it would donate $11. 1 million over five years to schools in southwest Indiana. prepare scholars for long-term careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

The Driving Possibilities grants will cover grades K-12. La initial investment will be distributed through Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation, North Gibson School Corporation, Building Blocks and Youth First Inc. to provide access to quality education in the early years of training and resources to academics. health, multilingual learning, and hands-on STEM systems for academics and teachers.

Last month, with the announcement of the Lexus TX, Toyota Indiana announced it would donate $300,000 to the Play-it Forward campaign at the Koch Family Children’s Museum in Evansville. The budget will help create a state-of-the-art mobile museum that will help provide equivalent access for young people across the region to expand their imaginations and explore through the power of play, with interactive STEAM activities.

Twenty-eight years ago, a generation ago, when Toyota announced its arrival in Princeton, the Tri-State found it difficult to comprehend how important business was.

“I think maybe there’s a soft one at the end of the tunnel,” Winnecke said. “It’s been more than a smooth one. I don’t even know how to describe it.

Now, after billions of dollars in payroll and other economic benefits have helped reshape the Tri-State and thousands of homes, “it’s hard to believe they’re not here,” Winnecke said.

“Personally, why do I have a Toyota?” Wathen asked rhetorically. “I build a Toyota here. I’m doing this to thank you.

“I think other people deserve to be grateful,” he said. We hit a home run. “

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier

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